Republicans Say They’ll Act Fast to Push Agenda

WASHINGTON — In taking control of Congress on Tuesday, Republicans say they will quickly advance energy and health care legislation that stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate as they try to make good on claims, and address doubts, that they can govern effectively.

“We have sort of laid down the marker, and we need to follow through,” said Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 Republican, as the 114th Congress prepared to convene.

Yet a sour note is possible on Tuesday as Speaker John A. Boehner seeks his third term as the House leader. Some disgruntled conservatives have said they will not back Mr. Boehner — he was embarrassed when a dozen defected two years ago — and a coup, while unlikely, would represent a disastrous beginning. Some conservative activists also say congressional Republicans are starting out too timidly.

Republicans hope to strike early with measures that are known to have bipartisan support. The House is set to pass legislation this week expediting the Keystone XL pipeline; the Senate is making it the first order of business as well. The House will also take up a measure that would change the new health care law’s definition of full-time workers to those working 40 hours rather than the current 30 hours — another proposal that has drawn backing from Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate.

Thirteen new senators and 58 new House members will be sworn in as the 114th Congress opens with its traditional pomp, allowing Republicans to take advantage of their strong election showing two months ago. The party has command of the House and Senate for the first time in eight years and will control the legislative branch during the final two years of President Obama’s term and the run-up to the 2016 elections.

Members of both parties say there is opportunity for compromise, particularly on trade, taxes and public works. Still, there are ample grounds for conflict, with the president’s executive actions on immigration and the restoration of relations with Cuba hanging over the start of the new Congress. In a statement, Mr. Boehner promised that “nothing is going to get in the way of our team’s focus on the American people’s priorities.”

On immigration, House Republican officials say they expect to approve a Department of Homeland Security spending measure before the end of January that would deny money to carry out Mr. Obama’s action to ease the threat of deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants.

Because the House has been in Republican hands since 2011, the real test comes in the Senate, where the new majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, is armed with a 54-46 majority. He will still have to find a way to make legislation passed by the House attractive to enough Democrats to assemble the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural obstacles and send them to the president’s desk.

“The Senate will be ground zero,” said one House Republican leadership aide, who was not authorized to talk publicly about party strategy.

Mr. Obama, who will embark this week on a series of policy-related trips in advance of the State of the Union address on Jan. 20, says he is open to working with the Republican Congress but draws the line at unraveling some of his major domestic initiatives, particularly on health care, Wall Street restrictions and the environment. The Keystone XL pipeline bill could present him with an immediate decision about starting the year with a veto, and Senate Democrats are confident they could sustain one.

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Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said the burden was on Republicans to prove they could govern.CreditT.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images

At the same time, the administration needs Republican cooperation on some White House priorities, including the confirmation of a new secretary of defense and a new attorney general. Efforts to finance a new embassy in Havana and to name an ambassador there are likely to stir strong Republican resistance.

House Republicans have run into an image problem while preparing for the new Congress. Representative Michael G. Grimm of New York was forced to resign last week after pleading guilty to felony tax evasion, and the third-ranking majority member, Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, came under fire after reports surfaced last week that he had spoken to a white supremacist group in 2002. Mr. Boehner took the lead in pushing out Mr. Grimm, but threw his support behind Mr. Scalise.

Given the rebellious streak that conservative House and Senate Republicans have exhibited, top Democrats remain skeptical that Republicans can maintain control over the rank and file as they navigate some treacherous legislative terrain in the months ahead, including the need to increase the federal debt limit in the spring and the passage of a federal budget plan.

“I think the burden is on Republicans to show they can get their act together and really govern,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the senior Democrat on the Budget Committee.

Republicans have significant incentive to rack up some victories. They will be judged on their legislative performance in the 2016 elections, a presidential year when voters may be less friendly to the Republicans than they were last fall. Republicans will have twice as many Senate seats on the ballot as the Democrats will, including swing states like Illinois, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The Senate’s Keystone debate, to come after a Senate Energy Committee hearing on Wednesday and a vote by the panel on Thursday, will present the first trial of Mr. McConnell’s pledge for more open proceedings. Members of both parties will be able to offer amendments in what Mr. McConnell envisions as the sort of freewheeling debate that was missing under Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who will now be the minority leader.

“I don’t have any intention of shutting the bill down prematurely or to try to jam either Democrats or Republicans,” Mr. McConnell said in an interview. “The goal is to let the Senate express its views on a very important job-creating measure.”

For months, congressional Republicans have been drawing up plans on how they would run Congress if they won the Senate in November. In anticipation of more jockeying and complicated procedural fights on the floor, members of both parties have built up their staffs, bringing back some experienced veterans.

A solid relationship between Mr. McConnell and Mr. Boehner should ease any tensions that arise between House and Senate Republicans. Members from both chambers are scheduled to hold a joint retreat in Pennsylvania in mid-January, and some Republicans are worried that House members may quickly become frustrated at the slow pace of the Senate even under their party’s control.

Mr. McConnell acknowledged that he would need help from Democrats who were willing to deal with Republicans, and said he had held discussions with a number of Democrats he thought were potential partners on various issues.

“There is a pool of Democrats who want to do business,” he said.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Republicans Say They’ll Act Fast to Push Agenda. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe